Barcelona star Lionel Messi was a guest of President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Saturday as the player helped lay a foundation for a new 20,000-seat stadium in Port-Gentil set to host the 2017 AFCON.
The 3 time FIFA Ballon, d’Or winner arrived in Gabon on Friday, just after the Copa America in South America where his nation lost the finals to Chile on penalties.
Messi visited Gabon where he met several excited fans, signing autographs before he was driven in a presidential convoy to the scene of the foundation laying ceremony.
“When I was in Barcelona a few years ago, I saw Messi and he said he would come to visit me in Libreville,” President Bong told media.
“It was a promise which he made to me. He is a man of honour, one who has kept his word. The calendar worked out well and it has corresponded with the laying of the first stone,” the Gabonese leader added.
Port-Gentil is Gabon’s second biggest city and will be home to matches during the 2017 Afcon. The tournament will be played from January 21 to February 12, 2017 in Gabon, who were co-hosts for the 2012 AFCON with neighbors Equatorial Guinea.
